Facebook-MySpace Hit With Email Virus

A virus has been infecting popular social networking sites MySpace and Facebook according to tech experts. On Facebook, the virus is causing email message to be sent to people on “friends” lists asking them to watch a video supposedly on YouTube. A user has to download what purports to be a plug-in to watch the video. The plug-in is actually a virus. The emial appears to come from a friend. According to tech expert Marc Saltzman, “even when you go to the fake site, it has their name and profile picture right on the site, so you really believe it.” The virus is effecting many sites among Canadian users. “To the best of my knowledge,” says Saltzman, “we haven’t really seen a Facebook virus of this magnitude yet.”

We inhabit a world in which information is sought by those who either want information for the sake of entering the lives of other people or information which can allow one to enter the lives of unsuspecting people. In that sense, the virus is merely an old human desire masked in new clothes of technology.